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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 December 2003
We study the survival of sub-structures (clumps) within larger self-gravitating galaxies or dark matter halos. Building on scaling relations obtained from N-body calculations of violent relaxation, we arguethat the tidal field of galaxies and halos canonly destroy sub-structures if spherical symmetry is imposed at formation.Unless the larger halo is built up from a few large clumps, we find that clump-clump encounters are unlikely to homogenise the halo on a dynamical timescale.Phase-mixing would proceed faster in the inner parts and allow for the secular evolution of a stellar disc.